JD’s Bar-B-Que – Woodstock, GA

As we were roaming around the northwest suburbs, lunch time rolled around and I was (of course) searching the area for a spot. JD’s Bar-B-Que appeared on my phone, and I set our travel plans toward Bells Ferry (they also have an Acworth location). They’ve been open since 1999 and at some time in the past moved into a newer building – there’s a much older building to the left of the building below that looks much more like a barbecue shack.

We had to wait a couple of minutes for a table to open up, but were then seated in front of the counter. While the menu is on the wall, the counter is there for their carry-out business, as there was table service.

The menu was more broad than most barbecue places. My beloved ordered an avocado wrap,

which, while not your standard barbecue fare, was very tasty. And a very healthy choice for a barbecue place. I, on the other hand, ordered a two meat combo plate – ribs, brisket, fries and Brunswick stew.

The stew was very good (full of corn) and the fries were hot. The brisket was excellent, moist and smoky, with a beautiful smoke ring (to the left). It was some of the best that I’ve had in a while, not too fatty, not too lean. But the juxtaposition between the brisket and the ribs was striking. For as smoky and tasty as the brisket was, the ribs were the exact opposite. Bland, with no smoke flavor and not much other flavor – like they had been boiled and laid in an oven to keep them warm.

My list said that the brisket, ribs chicken and pork were the reason to try JDs. I guess it was half right…